LBJ Did It To Stay Out Of Jail?

[Robert Harper]

On 7/20/2018 at 7:29 PM, Rick McTague said:

What a great and impartial 3 man team we were coincidentally blessed with to immediately take over after JFK was murdered

I don't know how this tape even survived. The way these President Libraries operate, well, I still often think of Rex Bradford's discovery a few years ago that LBJ's telephone conversation with J Edgar the weekend of the murder lasting 14 minutes had been erased. 

I'm pretty convinced that both the long tape erasures of LBJ and Nixon relate to JFK's killing.

In any case, I have listened twice to this tape and am still trying to follow who says what. But right off the bat, a few observations:

This is just weeks after the killing and this group is there to talk about the payment of a stereo by Don Reynolds? I don't think so. I think that is the immediate upcoming thing to deal with , but to have your future Supreme Court Justice and the National Security Adviser there to "handle" that? Of course after awhile, you can tell Jack Valenti's voic -e it uses the language of biblical proportions of blood and slaughter and the lusting for blood animals that LBJ's "enemies" . I think this is a test run of being asked questions about anything regarding LBJ. Moyers, Fortas, Valenti --better be on the same page. The first time I recall even encountering the name of George McB in the JFK case was whne reading Prof Gibson's book Battling Wall Street. Hearing him here, now, with this group, is creepy.

Also there is a mention of "Homer" who is Homer Thornberry another crony. He resigned from Congress in order to be the Judge in the Nagel case, which blew my mind when  I read it on Spartacus. Additionally, he was the Judge that LBJ put up for the Supreme Court when he also put Fortas (who was already on the Court) as Chief Justice. So Fortas is the one who "convinces" Hugo Black to void a lower Court order and help LBJ cheat to win in 1948 and 20 years later, he's the first nominee since 1795 to resign during hearings for Chief Justice. Thornberry gives up a seat in Congress to oversee a case involving Oswald and he was among those who attended the Bobby Baker shindigs with LBJ.These are the guys that LBJ has around him weeks after the murder. They are talking in hushed tones about the sale of advertising?

[Joe Bauer]

Robert, yes. I too am surprised this tape survived.

It's so starkly revealing of the truth of LBJ's deeper corruption.

Your connecting these conference call participants to many other intriguing high level LBJ shenanigans is also very revealing and appreciated.

And the Thornberry/Nagel connection is ominous, isn't it?

Valenti. What can one say about this LBJ sychophantic weasel besides Valenti providing cover for LBJ's child with his wife?

And I would love to have Bill Moyers pinned down in a public forum to listen to this tape and answer questions and explain what it and his role in this was all about.

It is powerful to me to hear LBJ himself actually state that he believed he could be "going to jail" about this issue.

This tape and LBJ's statements on it reveal how big of a deal this issue was with LBJ. Much bigger than has been generally suggested and written about.

And I agree the hushed tone concern here cannot just be about the payment of a stereo.

I have also listened to the tape more than once. 3 times in fact. Many times, the conversation is so hushed, I can't clearly make out what is being said.

Regards the "hooker" comment, I think now that the person suggesting this is talking about just one of the journalists, not all three.

And I thought I heard LBJ talking about an issue with Bobby Baker where he says something ( again, too hushed to be quoted ) about Bobby ( Baker? ) doing something with a girl? Perhaps providing someone with a call girl?

And I am not sure who...may have been Valenti?...saying that the American people won't be concerned about something a day later after it comes out? That they just won't care? And how you can placate the coloreds simply by giving them something on Civil Rights...and placating the American businessmen by passing some new tax bill benefiting them. Sounds just like Trump's new tax break for the wealthy bill.

There is much to contemplate about LBJ and his cronies in this call.

An aside:

I was just again looking at the famous photo of LBJ being sworn in on Air Force 1 on 11,22,1963.

This photo always disturbs me. Even angers me. In this you see that LBJ weasel Jack Valenti squatting in the left hand corner of the picture.

 

You also see Albert Thomas ( who is pictured in another photo of this event ) giving LBJ that perversely incongruous, sick grinning congratulatory wink after LBJ's swearing in.

Like you would give a hometown football player hero who just scored a game winning touchdown. This upbeat, celebratory Thomas action is so out of place in this incredibly somber and sad scene it chills you.

And in this photo you also see an absolutely horrifically traumatized Jackie.

That is the most outrageously sickening and disgusting element of this Air Force 1 swearing in picture.

To drag someone in Jackie's unbelievably traumatized state just an hour or two after she witnessed her husband's head explode inches from her face into that crowded cabin...for what...a politically expedient for LBJ photo-op?

Was it truly "legally" required to have Jackie next to LBJ for this ceremony?

Dear God! What a monstrous act! 

Who actually thought up this sick torturous Jackie Kennedy next to LBJ scene and made it happen?  And why?

Jackie should have been sequestered and incredibly protected and comforted in a quiet room far apart from this political swearing in ceremony with some comforting and empathetic companionship, probably female and maybe a priest and even a doctor or nurse at her calling if needed.

Jackie was so traumatized by her husband's barbaric close up murder that in the days and weeks and maybe even months after her nightmare on Elm Street, she even contemplated suicide and had to have much counseling and be prescribed sedatives to just get through that time!

But right there on Air Force 1, within just two hours of one of the most brutal public executions in our political history, there is blood covered and shell shocked Jackie being forced to participate in one last photo op for you know who's benefit...certainly not hers.

I'm sorry, but I can't look at a picture of LBJ ( the Air Force One swearing in photo most particularly ) and his cronies as well...and not feel ill in my stomach.  The guy and his mentors and sychophants just exude ruthless ambition, corruption and callousness.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[Douglas Caddy]

Thanks, Joe, for your emotionally moving reaction to what took place on that airplane as LBJ was sworn in as president.

It sort of staggers the mind that there are scholars of the history of the assassination who are adamant to this day that LBJ had nothing to do with JFK's assassination.

[Jim Hargrove]

Megthanks to Joe Bauer for finding this recording.  One small question comes to mind….

Starting at about the 13:15 mark in the audio, the name “McLendon,” or a name that sounds like it, comes up repeatedly.  Anyone know if this is a reference to reporter Sarah McLendon, or to KLIF’s Gordon McLendon, or to someone else entirely?

[Joe Bauer]

Just listened to the conference call tape again.

LBJ mentions Kay Graham and others as wicked and mean and wanting to bring LBJ and his people down. LBJ then speculates that perhaps this is because of Bobby ( Baker? ) getting a girl for "Phil."  One must assume LBJ is talking about Phil Graham.

The other hooker statement by one of LBJ's fixer team is they would have to get a hooker for "these people" in the end.

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[James DiEugenio]

I think this is from this book https://www.amazon.com/All-Way-LBJ-Presidential-Election/dp/0521737524/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1532372533&sr=8-15&keywords=LBJ+in+1964

Which actually looked like a pretty good book.  That author probably discusses the tape there.  Since the book boasts that the author listened to 800 tapes at the LBJ Library.

It was alway odd to me that nothing ever came of the Reynolds inquiry.

I think the charge was kickbacks.  

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by James DiEugenio

[Rick McTague]

On 7/22/2018 at 2:27 PM, Joe Bauer said:

You also see Albert Thomas ( who is pictured in another photo of this event ) giving LBJ that perversely incongruous sick grinning wink, and thumbs up gesture after LBJ's swearing in.

Like you would give a hometown football player hero who just scored a game winning touchdown. This upbeat, celebratory Thomas action is so out of place in this incredibly somber and sad scene it chills you.

And in this photo you also see an absolutely horrifically traumatized Jackie.

That is the most outrageously sickening and disgusting element of this Air Force 1 swearing in picture.

To drag someone in Jackie's unbelievably traumatized state just an hour or two after she witnessed her husband's head explode inches from her face into that crowded cabin...for what...a politically expedient for LBJ photo-op?

 

Joe,

That picture has always stuck in my craw as one more piece of evidence that the murder of JFK was not the random act of one nut. 

Why else would the victory wink be given?  And LBJ SMILING at him? Why else would the victory signal in Morse code be sent over the DPD radio channel?  How does this square with the fake humility in LBJ's speech on the Andrews AFB tarmac where he has to add - as if he forgot to check that box - "and God's" when he asked for the peoples' help?  He could not WAIT to get into office, his one goal in entering politics in the first place.  It pays to remember what he told Madeleine Brown the night before at the Murchison party: 

Thanks

Rick

[Joe Bauer]

Rick, notice the horrifically shell shocked and grief stricken look on Jackie's face in that photo at the same time Albert Thomas is grinning and winking at LBJ?

Jackie's eyes are fixed in absolute horror.

To this day these pictures of Jackie Kennedy in that scene and in indescribable shock and grief just haunt me.

I don't know how she got through that cramped, body heat cabin ceremony without breaking into wails or even fainting.

Again, does anyone here know whether Jackie's presence in the LBJ swearing in ceremony was legally required?

If not, leave this horrifically shell shocked, grief stricken woman in a safe and comforting space and provide her with immediate empathetic care, support and assistance until she gets back to Washington, DC where she can get some real help and support.

Did anyone ever ask Albert Thomas why he decided to present to LBJ that celebratory grin and wink that was as out of place as laughing at a hanging?

Edited July 24, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[Richard Price]

Joe, I'm certainly no expert on it, but I believe the only necessary people are the administrator of the oath, the person being sworn and probably two witnesses.  This is one thing that makes me believe at least part of D. Lifton's scenario.  They had to have her away from the body in order to move it.  There is absolutely no other reason to have her there.

[James DiEugenio]

This is how Jackie got there.  Caro wrote about it in his last installment.

 

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/lyndon-johnson-demanded-jackie-kennedy-be-present-for-famous-swearing-in-pic-after-her-husbands-assassination-144344305-237749941

[Rick McTague]

17 hours ago, Richard Price said:

Joe, I'm certainly no expert on it, but I believe the only necessary people are the administrator of the oath, the person being sworn and probably two witnesses.  This is one thing that makes me believe at least part of D. Lifton's scenario.  They had to have her away from the body in order to move it.  There is absolutely no other reason to have her there.

👍

[Ron Bulman]

10 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

This is how Jackie got there.  Caro wrote about it in his last installment.

 

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/lyndon-johnson-demanded-jackie-kennedy-be-present-for-famous-swearing-in-pic-after-her-husbands-assassination-144344305-237749941

I could see LBJ begging her to be there to legitimize the transfer of power but not demanding it.  How could he?  Especially at that point in time.  Someone should have told Caro that for the sake of objectivity Yarborough's insistence that Youngblood did not jump on LBJ be presented as well.  After all, Youngblood told the Warren Omission words to the effect of  "the President says that I...". 

[Robert Harper]

On 7/23/2018 at 12:47 AM, Jim Hargrove said:

Starting at about the 13:15 mark in the audio, the name “McLendon,” or a name that sounds like it, comes up repeatedly.  Anyone know if this is a reference to reporter Sarah McLendon, or to KLIF’s Gordon McLendon, or to someone else entirely?

Maj. Lennox P. McLendon, the North Carolina lawyer who guided the Senate Rules Committee investigation into the financial affairs of Robert G. Baker

[Robert Harper]

On 7/16/2018 at 7:51 PM, Joe Bauer said:

The audio just confirms again in my mind that the LBJ / Bobby Baker problem and LBJ's concern about it was as serious as some suggest it was and maybe even a possible motive in any involvement LBJ may have had in the "Big Event" as E. Howard Hunt stated in his close to death confessional.

 

Just to add a bit of context to this recording:

from the New York Times Feb 9 1964

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI)—A witness in the Baker investigation said today he believed that an adverse file on his Air Force career had been physically pulled out of the F.B.I.” and turned over to President Johnson.

The assertion was made by Don B. Reynolds, the insurance agent who brought Mr. Johnson's name into the Senate Rules Committee's inquiry into the business affairs of Robert G. Baker, former secretary to the Senate Democratic majority.....

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation denied the statement. A Justice Department spokesman said the White House had made no request to the Attorney General's office for any such information Mr. Reynolds said he believed “beyond any doubt” that his file had been removed from the F.B.I. and turned over to Mr. Johnson while Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was absent on a recent mission to the Far East.....

Concerning his activities as an Air Force officer and in the Foreign Service, Mr. Reynolds conceded that he had made “some stupid mistakes” in the past. But he said that this should not be allowed to detract from his testimony in the Baker case. He called his testimony “well documented”

Mr. Reynolds, in his published testimony, said he had sold Mr. Johnson $200,000 worth of insurance in 1957 after the then Senate Democratic leader had suffered a heart attack.

 from Kennedy Assassination Chronicles Vol. 7., Issue 1, Spring 2001: 

THE JANUARY 23, 1964 PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE A press conference (not televised live) was held in the White House Fish Room, with President Johnson appearing at 5:04 PM. The expected topic was a policy statement on the situation in Panama. Instead, he addressed the gift of the stereo set. He gave his own spin on things, saying that Bobby Baker gave him the set; Baker was an employee of the Senate, and not his personal employee.(41)

Just before LBJ left the room, he said, “I hope this covers it rather fully. That is all I have to say about it and all I know about it.” (42) This press conference was LBJ’s “solution” to the Reynold’s problem. Abe Fortas and Clark Clifford advised LBJ to answer Reynold’s charges, but not let Walter Jenkins testify. They felt allowing Jenkins to testify could lead to a full scale crisis. The President said nothing at all about the purchase by Reynolds of air time at a cost of $1208.(43)

On January 25, 1964, LBJ tried to give another spin on the Reynolds’ testimony. Johnson clumsily attempted to equate the gift of the stereo set, attributed to Bobby Baker (but from Reynolds) to a miniature TV received by Barry Goldwater from his office staff. Derogatory information, taken from confidential Air Force files, was leaked to the press, exposing Johnson to serious criticism.(44)

Baker would have good reason to stonewall the Senate committee. Yet another reason was that Abe Fortas, a good friend of LBJ’s, and who would be appointed to the Supreme Court by LBJ, was Bobby Baker’s attorney at the hearings. Johnson seemed convinced that Reynolds could have been a severe blow to his political future, as indicated by his call to Abe Fortas about Don Reynolds testimony before leaving Dallas that tragic Friday afternoon.

Baker himself writes a sad ending to the story: “One Sunday evening I was consulting with..LBJ was already nervous because of the Billy Sol Estes scandal and the resignation of a Texas friend, Fred Korth, who’d quit as secretary of the navy following conflict-of-interest accusations. So I’d not expected to hear much from him. In fact, from the moment I resigned in October of 1963 until I visited him at his ranch to see a dying man, almost nine years later, we spoke not a word and communicated only through intermediaries.”(50)

[Joe Bauer]

So much more to know versus just Robert Caro's LBJ tomes.

Someday the American people should know the full reality truth about LBJ.

His true main legacy was one of monumental corruption.